The downtown Fort Lauderdale office tower, where Huizenga had his offices until last week, would house parts of his Republic empire, which grows daily with new acquisitions.

One downtown developer said the holdup is that Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone and Huizenga are haggling over the price. Viacom, a media conglomerate based in New York, is the parent company of Blockbuster Entertainment Group.

It could be called Clash of the Titans II. It was Redstone and Huizenga who captained the two companies during Viacom's buyout of Blockbuster and Paramount. The two men didn't end the negotiations as pals.

Blockbuster announced last year that it will relocate to Dallas, with the move scheduled to begin in April.

The building was bought by Fort Lauderdale developer Terry Stiles and Blockbuster Entertainment, then with Huizenga at the helm, in 1991. The building, next to the Museum of Art, was overhauled and renovated to Stiles' and Huizenga's specifications.

Stiles has said that he has sold his share, though he is still listed as an owner on Fort Lauderdale property records.

Calls to Stiles Corp., Huizenga Holdings and Viacom on Thursday were not returned.

Alice Lucia, an associate director at real-estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, said she heard that Huizenga will buy the Blockbuster building. "We've all heard that one on the street," she said.

Like others, she said she has no confirmation that it's true but it makes sense.

"If you look at all the acquisitions recently as far as Republic, they are located in several different buildings in downtown Fort Lauderdale. This might be an opportunity to consolidate them," she said.

Tom Godart of Godart & Co., a Fort Lauderdale commercial real-estate broker, agreed. There's not much other space available downtown for a company growing as quickly as Republic is, which already needs more space, he said.

Two office towers Stiles Corp. is building or renovating - Las Olas Centre and the old Glendale Federal building - are almost fully leased, partially with Huizenga companies, Godart said.

Adding to the speculation is that no one sees any reason for Viacom to hold on to the building yet none of the usual brokers involved in selling and leasing downtown office towers has seen any promotional literature on it. That, they say, is unusual.

And at least one broker was rebuffed when he tried to approach Blockbuster with a potential buyer.

"There has been no attempt whatsoever to put it on the market or respond to inquiries on it," said Rod Loschiavo of CB Commercial Real Estate Group.